Sessionals

Gordan Djurdjevic
Gordan Djurdjevic holds a PhD from the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is co-editor of the anthology of critical studies Occultism in a Global Perspective (Acumen, 2013), and the author of Masters of Magical Powers: The Nath Yogis in the Light of Esoteric Notions (VDM, 2008); India and the Occult: The Influence of South Asian Spirituality on Modern Western Occultism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); and Sayings of Gorakhnath (Oxford University Press, forthcomining).

Wayne Knights
Wayne Knights has taught a variety of courses in the Humanities; he has also taught history extensively at both the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser Programs in Federal Prisons. His interests include European Intellectual History and the problem of historical time.

Niall Mackenzie
Niall MacKenzie holds an undergraduate degree in History from Washington and Lee University and a doctorate in English from the University of Cambridge, where he was among the last research students to be supervised by the late Howard Erskine-Hill. Before coming to SFU, he was a Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UBC.
Niall’s publications on literary-historical matters have appeared in a number of journals and edited collections, including Scottish Gaelic Studies, Éigse, Studia Neophilologica, The Review of English Studies, and The Age of Johnson. He is a grandson of Kate MacKenzie (Caitrìona Uilleim Iain mhic Artair, 1876-1979), a noted Cape Breton Island tradition bearer.

Antone MinardPhD, (UCLA)
Born and raised in San Diego, Antone received his PhD in folklore and mythology from UCLA. His specialty is Celtic languages and literature. After completing his PhD, he lived for a while in Aberystwyth, Wales, where he was a research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies and contributed to An Atlas for Celtic Studies: Archaeology and Names in Ancient Europe and Early Medieval Britain and Brittany as well as an ecyclopedia called Celtic Culture. Locally, he works with the Centre for Scottish Studies and offers a Welsh language course through the Vancouver Welsh Society. Beyond Celtic studies, he has a strong interest in other traditions' folk narrative (myths, legends and folktales) and folk beliefs -- especially superstitions and beliefs about the natural world. He is also a book collector.

Michael Newton
Michael Newton's connection with Japan started when, at age 12, he joined a Japanese martial arts class at a local YMCA. "That class began a journey which shaped th rest of my life," he says. He lived for about nine years in Japan, first as a martial arts student, then as a graduate student studying Japanese religions, and finally as a teacher and translator. His area of specialty is Japanese culture and religion, but he is also interested in Japanese aesthetics and art. He has taught undergraduate courses at SFU on Japanese history and culture, Asian Studies, Buddhism, Zen, and other religious studies. Recentlly, he finished writing a chapter on Japanese religions in British Columbia for a book on Asian religions in BC which will be published by UBC Press. Michael Newton is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and a member of a meditation group in Vancouver.